56 Forests and Trees 



manently a dense population a large proportion of its area 

 must be in forest. 



What is true of Europe is true also of Asia. India 

 owes its comparative freedom from famine in recent years 

 to the re-clothing of much of the land with trees, and 66.7 

 per cent of the area of Japan is forest. 



When the area of forest in any of the Canadian prairie 

 provinces is compared with what has been found necessary 

 in these very old countries the contrast is almost startling. 

 Manitoba has 1.6 per cent, Saskatchewan 3.8 per cent, and 

 Alberta 10.3 per cent of its area in forest. In these prov- 

 inces at least we have a long way to go before reaching a 

 condition that may be regarded as satisfactory and per- 

 manent. 



Canada is a comparatively new and a very large country. 

 Its natural forests were so extensive that they were for 

 long enough considered practically inexhaustible. No 

 one thought it necessary to know just what extent and what 

 kind of forest we had, since all were assured we had and 

 would always continue to have plenty. It is only within 

 recent years that the idea has gradually been driven home 

 to the people, that our forests are being rapidly destroyed, 

 and that some method of protection is necessary if suffer- 

 ing is to be avoided. 



It soon became evident that for effective protection 

 there must be strong central control. Fortunately this 

 was still possible, for although large areas of land had been 

 disposed of either by homestead, purchase or grants to 

 railways, there still remained sufficient public lands to 



